Belfast

BELFAST, county borough, capital of Northern Ireland. Pop. (1926) 415,151. It is a sea-port of the first rank, at the en trance of the river Lagan into Belfast Lough, I24m. north of Dublin by rail.

The early history of the site is scanty and vague. In the Annals of the Four Masters there is mentioned a battle in A.D. 66o be tween the Ulidians and Cruithni, fought probably on this site. River fords along the coastal route into North Ireland became of great strategic importance in Norman times. In 1177 a castle was built by John de Courcy commanding a ford over the Lagan near its mouth, and from this date begins the real history of Belfast as a settlement. The next outstanding date is 1316 when the town and castle were destroyed by Edward Bruce. In the early 16th century, Belfast is described as a town and a fortress but was in reality a fishing village in the hands of the house of O'Neill. Edward Fitzgerald, earl of Kildare, twice attacked it during his rising, first in 1503 and later in 1512. The town and fortress were obtained in 1571 by Sir Thomas Smith, a favourite of Queen Eliza beth. It was later forfeited by him to the lord deputy, Sir Arthur Chichester, who in 1612 was created Baron Chichester of Belfast. At this time it was only a town of about 120 houses and a castle in poor condition. In 1611 Chichester built another castle, which was burnt in 1708. A charter was granted to the town by James I. in 1613, constituting it a corporation with a chief magistrate and 1 2 burgesses and commonalty, with right of sending two members to parliament. In 1632 Thomas Wentworth, earl of Strafford, was appointed first lord deputy of Ireland, and Belfast received cer tain fiscal rights which he had purchased from the corporation of Carrickfergus. Two years after the rebellion of 1641, a rampart was raised round the town, pierced by four gates on the land side. It will thus be seen that Belfast still retained many of the char acteristics of a fortress during the period of its early commercial development, and this dualism in its history is of great significance and importance. The old charter was annulled by James II. and a new one issued in 1688, but the old one was restored in 1690 by William III. Letterpress printing was introduced by James Blow and company in 1696 and about this time strategic considerations sank into the background and commercial factors became of out standing importance.

Shipbuilding at Belfast really began with the enterprises of William Ritchie of Ayrshire, dating from 1791. The earliest rec ords of shipbuilding, however, date back to 1636, when the "Eagle Wing" (150 tons register), was built on the shore of Belfast Lough by a number of Presbyterians of Belfast who wished to seek refuge in the New World. Continuous progress has been made since the early I 9th century, and Belfast now is one of the world's chief shipbuilding centres.

A new channel, the Victoria channel, several miles long and 3ooft. wide, affording 2oft. of water at low tide and 28ft. at high tide, was cut about 1840. The Alexandra dock, 852ft. long and 3 I f t. deep, was opened in 1889 and numerous extensions have been made since, a graving dock, one of the largest in the world, being opened in 1911.

The linen

industry was much encouraged by the Huguenots, who came to Ulster after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Modern Belfast profited by proximity, to Scottish coal and iron, and has become the centre of the industry. The activities con nected with the manufacture of linen range from the making of sewing thread to the production of handkerchiefs, tea-cloths and other finished goods. Before the war, large quantities of linen goods were sent from the Continent to be bleached on Ulster greens and then returned for sale. Rope-making, whiskey-distil ling, manufacture of aerated waters and of tobacco are other activities.

It was not until 1789 that the town obtained regular communi cation with Dublin by stage coach, owing to the badness of the roads and the steepness of the hills between Newry and Belfast. Now, however, the Lagan valley has been utilized as an im portant railway route. The residential areas on Belfast Lough are also connected with the city by rail. There is regular sea communication with Liverpool, Heysham, Glasgow and other ports.

Architecturally, the city inevitably retains signs of its rapid growth. There are, however, some buildings worthy of notice, of which may be mentioned Queen's university, City Hall and the cathedral. The first named is finely situated in its own grounds. The City Hall occupies the site of the old Linen Hall and is in direct touch with many of the principal thoroughfares. Tradition has given way to necessity in the case of the cathedral, the edifice being built on Basilican lines calculated to meet the demands of a large congregation more economically than a Gothic structure. The city has a few statues and monuments one of the best known being the Albert Memorial Clock Tower.

Belfast is divided into four parliamentary constituencies, each returning four members to the parliament of Northern Ireland and one member to the parliament of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Queen's university dates from 1909; previously it was Queen's college, a constituent college of the Royal University of Ire land. The municipal college of technology is connected with it. The university gives degrees in arts, science, including civil engineering, law, medicine, commerce, agriculture and applied science and technology. In the year 1923-24 the trustees of the Rt. Hon. J. C. White gave f 60,000 to the university for the endowment of departments of biochemistry and bacteriology.